The Body Shop

At first when I was hired, I loved my job. My manager was lovely and helpful in onboarding me to my job, as well as ensuring that our team members were always doing their job correctly and appropriately. The team of casuals I worked with amongst my time at TBS Miranda were all beautiful and friendly individuals who I could always get along with or ask for advice about my job when I was newer to the company.  It was such a supportive, encouraging and friendly work environment amongst our team of casuals and our SM and AM. Even when both our managers left and our two new ones were introduced to the team, the work environment and friendliness/comfortability still remained. I thought that The Body Shop was all about fostering a friendly and supportive work culture until the new temporary Store Manager was introduced. It all went downhill from there, everyone felt super disrespected and disposable at the hands of this new manager who was nowhere near as compassionate and understanding our previous managers had been. The once positive work environment was now upset and turned into one of negativity, with girls hesitant to work alongside the temporary SM as her energy was dampening. As a consequence of her arrival, four people of the team resigned in one day with another two resigning a couple days later. 

Don’t get me wrong, with the right team of casuals and managers, The Body Shop can be a wonderful place to work with because of the people and work culture. I am grateful for the good times and memories I’ve made at the store while it was good. It’s a shame my experience was tainted by someone who disrupted our team’s balance and positivity. I hope no one else has to experience such a sad situation during their time at TBS, as I really did appreciate my job and the opportunities I had until a month ago. 

Working at The Body Shop Miranda became exhausting and emotionally draining. I gave my full effort — always helping out and picking up shifts when needed — but felt completely disposable. Many of us on the original team worked hard and stayed committed, only to be pushed out or feel like we had no option but to leave.

After new management stepped in, the work culture changed drastically. The environment turned negative and unwelcoming, and morale quickly dropped. Communication felt dismissive and unprofessional. Some staff, including myself, felt uncomfortable on shift and unsure of where we stood.

There was a strong sense of favouritism. Certain employees consistently got shifts, while others — even with full availability and proven reliability — were left off the roster. Staff from other stores were getting prioritised over the Miranda staff. It felt as though the new direction was to bring in different staff and slowly phase out the original team. Several girls (including myself) had their shifts cut without explanation, and many ended up leaving altogether.

Concerns raised with HR didn’t lead to any visible changes. This made us feel unsupported and unheard. There also appeared to be a close relationship between management and upper leadership, which left little room for accountability.

Overall, this store became a toxic and unstable place to work. If you’re looking for a supportive and fair environment, I’d recommend looking elsewhere.

A typical day;

Unpacking stock, cleaning shelves, merchandising, informing customers about products and helping them make the right choice for their needs.

What I learned:

I learned about the benefits of natural ingredients.I bacame a guru at applying makeup suitable for casual wear, formal, weddings and photography.

Management:

I learnt how to manage and develop a successful team. To coach each team member in areas they needed support.Setting up targets for the day to achieve budgets and exceed KPI`s. The importance of taking the required breaks.

My co-workers:

I had wonderful team members and treated them as I like to be treated. One of my team member had been in the job seven years so I trained her up on the financial procedures which was important for her to understand and be able to perform in case myself or my 2IC were unable to open or close. She was thrilled to have learned these procedures and have me help her develop further in her career. I was constantly developing my team and observing there selling techniques looking where I could help them improve and listening to any queries they had.

The hardest part of the job:

Having to terminate a team member.

The most enjoyable part of the job:

Would have had to recieving great customer feed back. Seeing customers return and knowing they were receiving wonderful customer service, leaving happy with their purchases and knowing their shopping experience was the best They could have.
Achieving budgets and targets is always enjoyable.

I initially enjoyed working for the company and valued being part of the team. The work itself was engaging, and I appreciated the opportunity to contribute. However, my experience in the final weeks of employment after 3 years, was disappointing due to a noticeable decline in communication and professional standards.

Shifts were cancelled or changed with little notice and minimal explanation, despite my availability and prior commitments. When I sought clarification, I was told it was due to “business needs,” with no mention of performance concerns—though I later learned my performance had been discussed among managers and with other staff, without any direct feedback being given to me.

Additionally, it was concerning to witness a manager from another store engage in conversations with casual staff about the conduct and job security of our Assistant Manager. I also became aware of decisions being made about shift allocations that excluded me, even when I was available to work, with other staff from another store being allocated the shifts instead.

These issues contributed to a work environment that felt increasingly unprofessional and uncomfortable.  

What is the best part of working at the company?
Given a chance to somewhat prove yourself by selling items that are on sale that week and reaching KPI goals.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Being an older casual working amongst a bunch of young casuals and higher management being younger then you and not been given a fair go. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very toxic, needs to be senior staff that treat casuals equally and don't single out workers and minimise bitchiness and manipulating.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Always have jobs on the go, need to be made familiar about constant sale items, can be busy with cleaning, serving staff, trying to meet KPI, ensure high level of customer service is given, need to be knowledgeable on products ect ect

I worked for The Body Shop for many years and it had its ups and downs. If you work for a store with supportive managers and team members than you will enjoy your work at The Body Shop. 

Pros:
good staff discount
getting to use the products during your shift 
plenty of down time in quiet periods to chat to co workers 
makeovers (if you like doing makeup on people) 
Job security (its very difficult to be fired even when people should be!) 
time goes quick in busy periods 
Co-workers who were actually nice

Cons:
Favoritism when it comes to promotions
Having to work weekends, nights, pub holidays etc  
Occasionally working your RDO or a 12 hour shift due to sickness and short staffed 
People in Management positions having a lack of care towards their staff  
Strong sales focus to meet KPI's can breed negativity 
Feeling like you can never call in sick even when you are

From my first shift at The Body Shop I knew immediately that I would enjoy the job and work environment. The others members of staff and managers made em feel very welcome to the team and always gave me guidance when needed.
My job was the help any customers within the store and guide them to what was best recommended to suit their individual needs.
I helped distribute the deliveries to either to store floor or storage when needed to ensure all products where fully stocked and the clean. 
I thoroughly enjoyed my short period of time within this position, the colleagues are now friends for life and  it made the job alot easier to settle into, I felt very comfortable from the first to the last shift and it as a pleasure to work for this company.

I only worked at The Body Shop during the Christmas Season and I have to say, it was great! loved every minute it. My manager was very helpful and taught me many sales skills. Even though i was only there for a short while, I always felt welcomed. The girls were awesome to work with. The workplace culture resembled a family; everyone worked as a team to drive up sales goals and to over exceed customers expectations. 
Hardest part of the job was honestly nothing because the body shop has a great support team and they helped me every step of the way. 
The best part of the job was serving customer and getting to know them. I loved recommending products to customers and i must say it was so easy to sell the body shop products as its quality speaks for themselves.

working at TBS was actually quite fun and the immediate team I worked with made it relaxed and comfortable. would be *way* more stressful if the immediate team were competitive or not team focused. the only issue was upper management, they would take a ridiculous time to reply to urgent emails, or the replies would be vague and unhelpful. the pay was good, and the team was strong and collaborative - which I appreciated. the business model however is “go, go, go until they say no” so no matter how uncomfortable a customer may be, they want you to bully sell to them (with charm, I suppose). this does not work for everyone. ultimately, good place to work at is extroverted.

I was employed during the Christmas period, therefore the shopping attitude was at a high rate and customers were in a positive mood. Greeting customers and finding out their needs was a fun part of the job because I enjoy dealing with people and providing my own advice. I learnt that being friendly and approachable is a key attribute for any employee to have when they are employed in retail because customers feel more comfortable and welcome when they experience such a positive vibe from a store. My co-workers were fun and easy to get along with, so overall my experience working at The Body Shop was exceptional.

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